Facile preparation of amorphous NiWSex and CoWSex nanoparticles for the electrocatalytic hydrogen evolution reaction in alkaline condition

The development of catalysts as an alternative to platinum group metals (PGMs) has great importance to improve the efficiency of hydrogen evolution reaction (HER). Herein, the novel amorphous ternary refractory metal selenides (MWSex; M = Co and Ni), which were synthesized by hot-injection approach, were firstly investigated on the electrocatalytic HER in alkaline media. Optical, electrochemical and magnetic properties of the electrocatalysts were explored, as well as the chemical structures and morphologies. These results clearly show that the obtained materials are having the amorphous crystal structure and are shaped as spherical and rod-like structures. Moreover, the addition of Ni and Co metals into the WSex structure were raised the catalytic activity of HER comparing to that of only WSex. This work paves the way for the exploration of copper-based amorphous selenides as electrocatalysts for the hydrogen evolution in order to replace noble metal Pt.